Which Factors Increase the Risk of Cancer?

Another major risk factor is nutrition.

As many as one-third of all cancers in the United States are thought to be related to a nutritional factor, which may include obesity, poor diet, and lack of adequate physical activity. Cancers that have been most strongly correlated with obesity include malignancies of the uterus, breast (in postmenopausal women), colon, esophagus, kidney, and gallbladder.

Other sites where existing data are not quite as compelling regarding obesity as a risk factor include blood cancers and malignancies of the liver, pancreas, and stomach.